Oakland Raiders Analysis: Does Darren McFadden Need to Man Up?

Earlier this week, Steve Corkran of the Contra Costa Timesreported that Oakland Raiders head coach Hue Jackson does not expect Darren McFadden to miss the rest of the season. McFadden as you recall suffered a Grade 1 foot sprain on October 23rd against the Kansas City Chiefs.

A Grade 1 foot sprain is the least severe of three possible levels of severity with regard to sprains, and McFadden has already missed six weeks. Not only has he already missed a month and a half, but he hasn’t even sniffed the practice field grass. At this point McFadden won’t be playing in this Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field, and the earliest he could possibly return would be at home against the Detroit Lions in Week 15. That would mean that McFadden missed eight games or ½ the season; for a MILD SPRAIN, and that’s the best case scenario!

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Since McFadden’s closest thing to a football related move to this point has been walking to the bathroom, there really isn’t any reason to think that he’s be back in Week 15 either. So what’s going on here? For an injury that was reported to be so minor and dealt with so nonchalantly, this has clearly turn out to be something more serious. Or has it?

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Is McFadden just a slow healer? Is he a wussy? Did the Raiders diagnose this wrong? Was it intentionally not reported correctly for some reason to begin with? Raiders fans and Fantasy Football owners across the country want to know.

No one thought that McFadden was going to be out for the year until Jackson introduced it as a possibility, and Jackson noting that there was still no timetable for McFadden’s return just makes things worse. To be honest, if the Raiders “misreported the injury” and knew that McFadden would be out for the rest of the season all along and just didn’t say so, that would be uncouth, but hey they’re the Raiders, so that’s par for the course… But if the team botched the original diagnosis, they should simply come out and say so.

Having McFadden remain out indefinitely because of a “mild foot sprain” makes him appear “soft” and the Raiders are damaging his reputation. When a player receives that type of reputation, it sticks with him throughout his career. From here on out, anytime McFadden walks to the sidelines with the slightest wince on his face, the buzzards will be circling questioning his manhood and ability to play with a minor injury.

Just last week while cracking my knuckles I incurred trauma to my pinky on my left hand. But here I am, diligently and conscientiously typing away filing this post. You won’t find anyone questioning my manhood…

The founder and former owner of MC3 Sports Media, Mike Cardano is the Sr. Business Administrator for RotoExperts and the Executive Director here at TheXLog.com. You may email Mike @ michael.cardano@rotoexperts.com or follow him on Twitter @MikeCardano. Listen to Mike on Sirius XM Fantasy Sports Radio with Scott Engel and the morning crew Tuesday mornings at 10am ET.